Daywatch: How colleges are responding to pro-Palestinian demonstrations

Good morning, Chicago.

The University of Southern California canceled its main graduation ceremony Thursday and dozens more college students were arrested at other campuses nationwide as protests against the Israel-Hamas war continued to spread.

College officials across the U.S. are worried the ongoing protests could disrupt plans for commencement ceremonies next month. Some universities called in police to break up the demonstrations, resulting in ugly scuffles and arrests nationwide, while others appeared content to wait out student protests as the final days of the semester ticked down.

Schools such as Columbia University continued to negotiate with protesters, while others are rewriting their rules to ban encampments and moving final exams to new locations.

Similar turmoil threatened to envelop Northwestern University yesterday as hundreds of Northwestern students joined the nationwide protests, prompting school administrators to abruptly change campus policies and ban tents or other temporary structures in common areas.

Campus law enforcement officials warned students to take down their tents or be cited for breaking school policy. At one point, demonstrators formed a human chain to prevent police officers from entering the encampment.

According to students, police tried to disperse the crowd by saying they needed a “reservation” to demonstrate on the quad and use a bullhorn, as outlined in the new policy.

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Hamas again raises the possibility of a 2-state compromise. Israel and its allies aren’t convinced

Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya said in an interview on Wednesday the group would lay down its weapons and convert into a political party if an independent Palestinian state is established in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip along the pre-1967-borders.

Though he again spoke of a truce, it was also a rare suggestion that Hamas could dissolve its armed wing.

Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker testifies he suppressed a story about alleged Rahm Emanuel affair

The ex-publisher of the National Enquirer tabloid testified during former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial Thursday that in the run-up to Rahm Emanuel’s first run for Chicago mayor, the publisher helped quash a story about an alleged affair Emanuel had.

David Pecker, who has had a long relationship with Emanuel and has contributed tens of thousands of dollars to his political campaigns over the years, testified he paid $20,000 for a story about an alleged Emanuel affair before Emanuel’s Chicago mayoral campaign kicked off in 2010.

• Donald Trump’s lawyers will grill ex-tabloid publisher as 1st week of hush money trial testimony wraps

Cook County Democrats to choose Karen Yarbrough’s replacement

Members of the Cook County Democratic Party meet today to choose an interim replacement for the late county clerk Karen Yarbrough, who died earlier this month.

Seventeen interested applicants sent their credentials to the party by the Wednesday deadline, including several county board members, a sitting state senator and the current clerk of Evanston.

Ex-Ald. Edward Burke resigns from Union League Club, scene of key meeting in corruption case

Former Chicago Ald. Edward Burke has resigned his membership at the Union League Club, the stately downtown institution that both reflected Burke’s old-school proclivities and served as the setting for an alleged shakedown in the corruption investigation that ended his 54-year political career.

Burke, who joined the Union League Club on West Jackson Boulevard in the mid-1970s and was one of its most high-profile members, officially had his resignation accepted by the club’s admissions committee on Tuesday, according to a member who requested anonymity.

Caleb Williams is ready to roar after the Chicago Bears use the No. 1 NFL draft pick for their latest shot at a franchise QB

Caleb Williams achieved his childhood goal of becoming the top NFL draft pick — and Chicago Bears fans’ dreams of a franchise quarterback were reawakened.

“It feels surreal,” Williams said. “But then again it doesn’t. Because this is exactly what I’ve worked toward.”

• Column: Can Caleb Williams reverse decades of Bears QB problems? The timing couldn’t be better.

• Bears draft Washington WR Rome Odunze at No. 9, adding another weapon for QB Caleb Williams

‘When I get through with Chicago, they’ll be loving me.’ Looking back at first words from the Bears’ top draft picks.

Is there ever a more optimistic day about a team’s future than when its brightest new star is introduced to fans?

Here’s what some of the Bears’ first-round draft picks from the past six decades have said when they started their careers in Chicago.

White Sox fall to 3-22 — tied for worst 25-game start of wild-card era — with 6-3 loss to Twins

The White Sox extended their worst start in franchise history, and at 3-22 they tied the worst 25-game start of the wild-card era (since 1995) with the 2022 Cincinnati Reds and 2003 Detroit Tigers. The 1993 Baltimore Orioles hold the modern-day record (since 1901) at 2-23.

• Chicago baseball report: Injuries not slowing Cubs down, while White Sox are off to a historically bad start

Chicago’s famous piping plover Imani has returned to Montrose Beach for the summer

Chicago’s lovebird has returned. Imani, son of the city’s cherished piping plovers Monty and Rose, returned to the sands of Lake Michigan on Thursday.

Column: Will Sundance Institute x Chicago be good for the local film industry?

A sort of pop-up import, sponsored by the Chicago Film Office and city tourism bureau Choose Chicago, Sundance Institute x Chicago is the power of branding incarnate. The event will consist of a modest four-screening package of titles that premiered in January at the annual Sundance Film Festival of Park City, Utah fame.

The off-screen activity is apparently the bigger deal: panels, discussions and filmmaker-centric meetups, patterned after the Sundance Institute’s programs designed to develop new work. Chicago’s late March announcement included a mayoral endorsement, citing the three-day Sundance-branded event as a “momentous occasion for our city,” providing “an unparalleled platform for our local talent to engage with industry leaders and decision-makers.”

Good news, right? Tribune critic Michael Phillips says it depends who’s being asked that question.

‘Challengers’ review: Tennis, everyone? Zendaya keeps a juicy romantic triangle spinning

A little delirious and a lot of serious, witty, stylish fun, “Challengers” plays a beautiful game of Canadian doubles with its three main characters, on and off the court. It’s a purely enjoyable romantic drama, and the one thing people seem to agree on is its deft sidestepping of easy labels, writes Tribune film critic Michael Phillips.

What to do around Chicago: Trace Adkins, C2E2 and a bookstore crawl

Also this weekend, Frankie Beverly at the United Center, Mike Birbiglia in the Loop and a 25th Annual Poetry Fest.